


A Place Aside

by Astrarian



Series: Writer's Month, August 2020 [27]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Pre-canon/season 1, Writer's Month 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26179720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astrarian/pseuds/Astrarian
Summary: Adora has a bad dream. Catra tries to make her feel better.(Writer's month 2020 - Day 27: dream)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: Writer's Month, August 2020 [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861909
Kudos: 22
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	A Place Aside

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Beth Orton's song of the same name.

Catra closes her eyes for a few moments, blocking out the sight of the empty bed.

When she opens them she stares at Adora, not quite scowling.

“Adora?”

Adora twitches. Her arm flicks out to one side, hand clasped in a loose fist. There’s a hint of sweat at her hairline, and her face is a little scrunched.

“Adora.”

Adora carries on twitching and muttering under her breath.

Catra loses patience and leans forward to shake her shoulder firmly. Adora flies awake with a yelp, fists tightening, and Catra quickly leans back on her heels.

Adora gulps in a breath of air, wild gaze flitting about her surroundings.

“Adora,” Catra says again. She stretches out her tail, brushing against one of Adora’s wrists.

Adora’s eyes settle on Catra. Catra stares back into her gaze. After a long moment, Adora’s fists relax, and she lets out a sigh. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Catra replies. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing. I-I’m fine. Just a bad dream.”

“Uh, yeah. I was gonna say, it didn’t sound like nothing.” Catra curls her tail around her leg and tilts her head appraisingly.

“Did I—? I’m sorry,” Adora says, looking glum. “I didn’t mean to wake anyone up.”

“You didn’t.” Catra shrugs at the rest of the bunkroom. Their fellow cadets are sleeping soundly. 

“But I woke you up.”

“I wasn’t really _asleep_ asleep. Just resting. Whatever. It’s just… it’s not the first time, you know.”

Adora hangs her head, which suggests she didn’t know. A few loose strands of hair tumble out of place, hanging around her face.

“Sorry,” she says again. She opens her hands and rubs them against her sheets, drying her palms.

“I already said it’s fine,” Catra says. With the vague threat of a sleep-attack now nullified, she springs forward lightly and straddles Adora’s knees. Behind her, she finds the shape of Adora’s outstretched feet under the blankets and curls the tip of her tail around them.

“What were you dreaming about?” she asks quietly.

Adora doesn’t look up at her, instead laying her hands flat over her lap. “I don’t even know,” she admits. “It’s stupid.”

“How can it be stupid if you don’t know?”

Adora sags. “I mean it’s stupid I can’t remember it.”

After a moment, Catra begins to knead her hands gently against Adora’s legs under the covers, only letting the very tips of her claws protrude. “That’s just dreams. But none of it?”

What Catra can see of Adora’s forehead furrows. “Maybe like a light? And some fighting?”

Catra lets go of a tiny, quiet laugh, keen to keep this between them without any unwanted eavesdroppers. “You’re always fighting,” she says teasingly. “Can’t wait to be a proper Horde soldier, huh?”

“I dunno.”

“Huh?” Catra asks, pricking up her ears in confusion.

Adora shrugs. “It wasn’t the good kind of fighting,” she clarifies. “I think I was on my own.”

Catra squeezes Adora’s feet with her tail. “Okay, that _is_ stupid,” she says. “I’d never let you fight on your own.”

“I don’t think you were there,” Adora says, finally looking up at Catra again. Her eyes are big and bright and their blueness suddenly captures and holds Catra’s attention. Something in the space between her ribs constricts.

“Okay, again, that’s stupid,” she says, blinking at the weird look in Adora’s eyes. “We’re partners in crime.”

“I know.”

“Maybe that’s why it was a bad dream,” Catra muses, looking down at Adora’s lap. Every so often as Catra kneads her claws, her fur brushes the tips of Adora’s fingers.

“Um, yeah, maybe,” Adora says.

Even though Adora’s sad and Catra doesn’t really know how to make her feel better, Catra at least feels a lot better down here with Adora than she did curled up on the top bunk by herself listening to Adora’s whimpering.

“Well, I’m here now,” she says.

“Thanks,” Adora whispers. She lifts one of her hands and puts it over Catra’s, rubbing her thumb over her short fur.

Catra looks down at their hands, feeling the warmth of Adora’s body under hers. Listening closely, she thinks she can hear Adora’s heartbeat in the dark, and her gentle breathing, both almost in time with Catra’s own body. It feels special, and she closes her eyes, going still so as to really take it all in.

When Catra opens her eyes again, though, her hands are flat against the cold blankets. She can easily imagine Adora’s hand on top of hers again, like it had been that night—it’s nearly as real as the way she can trick herself into thinking she can hear Adora’s breathing. She can still hear her now. But it’s just the whoosh of her own thoughts, her own body, confusing her. Adora’s not here.

She’s done more than enough crying over Adora. But knowing that doesn’t stop her from looking at Adora’s empty bed. Even though she feels even more lonely and alone down here than on the top bunk, she can’t find the strength yet to stop.


End file.
